Origins

[Unregistered]

We are working with figurative language. Several students would like to know the origin of specific idioms, but have not been able to find the answer through research. Thanks for any help!

Idiom: Feel like a million bucks (or looks like a million bucks)
Idiom: Pie in the sky
Idiom: Dumb as a doorknob
Idiom: When pigs fly

[TheParser]

We are working with figurative language. Several students would like to know the origin of specific idioms, but have not been able to find the answer through research. Thanks for any help!

Idiom: Feel like a million bucks (or looks like a million bucks)
Idiom: Pie in the sky
Idiom: Dumb as a doorknob
Idiom: When pigs fly

***NOT A TEACHER***May I try? (1) I feel like a million bucks (dollars) = I feel GREAT! (If you had $1,000,000, would you feel really happy? (2) She looks like a million bucks = She has fantastic clothes and a sensational hairdo (a million dollars can buy you a lot of help to make you look good) (3) Dumb as a doorknob. Is the knob on a door very smart? So it = super stupid. (4) Tom: I'm so happy because the new government says it's going to solve all of our problems. Mona: That's just pie in the sky = nice promises or hopes that will never come true.

[TheParser]

We are working with figurative language. Several students would like to know the origin of specific idioms, but have not been able to find the answer through research. Thanks for any help!

Idiom: Feel like a million bucks (or looks like a million bucks)
Idiom: Pie in the sky
Idiom: Dumb as a doorknob
Idiom: When pigs fly

***NOT A TEACHER***I just realized you wanted the ORIGINS, not the definitions. My bad!

[Ouisch]

We are working with figurative language. Several students would like to know the origin of specific idioms, but have not been able to find the answer through research. Thanks for any help!

Idiom: Feel like a million bucks (or looks like a million bucks)

At one time (when you could still buy a hamburger for five cents), one million dollars was considered to be the absolute ultimate - the top of the tops. So "million dollar" or "million bucks" was a standard comparison for something that was the best, something that couldn't get any better.

Idiom: Pie in the sky

This phrase was coined around 1910 in 'The Preacher and the Slave,' a composition by labor organizer Joe Hill:

You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay
You'll get pie in the sky when you die.

Idiom: Dumb as a doorknob

For some reason the various parts of a door, a staid inanimate object, became common similies over time. For example, "dead as a doornail." Likewise "dumb as a doorknob."

Idiom: When pigs fly

This phrase dates back to a Scottish proverb first published in 1586. “Pigs fly in the air with their tails forward”. If pigs did indeed fly, the proverb argues, flying backwards would seem an extra feat.